Newark airport officials say backlog of stranded passengers will take 'matter of days' to clear

NEWARK — Some corners of Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday looked more like a homeless shelter than an airport, as stranded passengers slept on floors, in hallways and even on baggage carousels as they waited out the massive delays caused by the big blizzard.

Steve Coleman, a Port Authority spokesman, said 1,200 flights were canceled Monday, more than double the 507 cancellations at Newark on Sunday. Continental Airlines, Newark’s main carrier, said it canceled 800 flights, many of them in or out of its Newark hub system-wide Monday due to the massive blizzard.

Airline officials were uncertain just how long it would take days to clear up the backlog of passengers, many of them waiting to get home after the Christmas holiday.

American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith said it would be "a matter of days" before everyone finally gets where they were going. "We just don’t know how many," Smith added.

Kristin David, a Continental Airlines spokeswoman, said individuals’ re-booking times would depend on their particular travel plans.

"In general, availability is limited, but we do all we can to find someone the next available confirmed seat," she said. "Once flights resume at a particular city, travelers who are at an airport may be able to access a seat on a standby basis well before their confirmed flight."

David said Continental passengers who had been scheduled on flights arriving at, connecting at or departing from affected airports through today would be allowed a one-time schedule change without a penalty, or given a refund.

"Sleeping on a concrete floor is not a pleasant experience," said Charles Jones, 60, an artist and inventor from Knightstown, Ind., who arrived at Newark from Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon, only to learn that his connecting flight to Indianapolis was cancelled.

So Jones set up camp with several stranded travelers on the ground level of Terminal C, in a mildly sloping passageway leading to a set of escalators. "You’ll notice that we’ve clustered where the carpeting is," he said.

Jones said he was surprised that Newark Liberty, in a region of the country that is no stranger to snowstorms, seemed so unprepared to host stranded fliers, comparing the situation to last week’s debacle at London’s Heathrow Airport, when countless passengers were stranded by Europe’s big winter storm.

"I wish they would at least provide some cots for the people here. You would think that Newark would have some provisions for the weather," he said. "I mean, this is not Heathrow."

Jones and some other travelers whose flights were canceled Sunday were booked onto Monday flights that were then also canceled. They were then put on standby for Tuesday flights but could not be sure those flights would depart, and if so, whether there would be a vacant seat for them.

Yuson So, 30, of Seoul, South Korea, a doctoral student in music at the University of Kansas, had spent the night on the floor near Jones, and in their mutual dislocation, the two became fast friends. Still, So was appalled at the lack of accommodations at the airport.

"In my country there is free lounge, and free meals," So said in broken English. "We can take free shower. But (in Newark) there is nothing. We cannot (do) anything."